With creative and revolutionary ideas across Africa, these startups are changing the technology space. Keeping an eye on them is absolutely worth it.
The selection of the following startups is based on the achievements, impressive-positive success stories, and the venture-backed funding that have been raised by these startups over the years.
Let’s dig in…
- Chipper
Chipper, formerly known as Chipper cash is a revolutionary FinTech company operating in seven countries in Africa. Chipper helps clients to make seamless and affordable cross-border transfers to and throughout Africa.
The cross-border fintech start-up had a great run in 2020 as, according to CEO Ham Serunjogi, it hit a monthly payment volume of $100 million.
In the midst of the global Covid19 pandemic, Chipper secured a US$30 million Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital to broaden its products and geographical reach with the participation of Bezos Expeditions, the personal venture capital fund of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world.
Due to the high demand for cryptocurrencies, the startup is introducing a cryptocurrency trading service, enabling users via the app to buy and sell cryptocurrencies as well as U.S. stocks.
2. Komaza
Komaza is a tech-enabled, sustainable forestry company based in Kenya, is revolutionizing the wood industry in Africa via its innovative platform. Empowering over 2 million farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa while doubling the current tree cover across all operational landscapes.
The Kenya-based company has planted over 6 million trees with 25,000 smallholder farmers and is well on its way to its target of planting one billion trees by 2030 after securing $28 million of the proposed $33 million Series B equity funding from the company.
3. Sokowatch
Often referred to as “Tajir of Africa”, Sokowatch is definitely a startup you should look out for in 2021. Sokowatch is a B2B e-commerce startup launched in Kenya in 2016 and has expanded to Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda since its launch. A platform that directly links merchants to local and multinational suppliers and digitizes orders, payments, and logistics for distribution.
In 2020 it was able to raise $15 million in the Series A round, SokoWatch has raised $18.6m so far and is anticipated to have an outstanding run in 2021.
The value-added services Sokowatch provides include analytics and credit services for Africa’s smallest enterprises.
4. Farmcrowdy Group
Farmcrowdy, a Nigerian agri-tech startup,founded in 2016 with the aim of empowering farmers by connecting them to alternative financing and market access via a crowdfunding platform.The company has launched other successful products and subsidiaries such as Crowdyvest and Plentywaka.
In commemoration of its fourth year anniversary, Farmcrowdy has announced the launch of these businesses along with the introduction of two major platforms, the Farmcrowdy Foods E-Commerce platform and the Farmcrowdy Trader platform (Flagship platform under Farmcrowdy Aggregation).
5. 54gene
With the unprecedented Covid19 pandemic, there has been a lot of focus on the healthcare industry in Africa. 54gene is one of the few companies in Africa, disrupting the healthcare space.
In 2019, 54gene was created to tackle the substantial gap in the global market for genomics. In April 2020, the company raised a $15M Series A to further broaden and recruit its biobank capability around the organization.
54gene is projected to accelerate its growth even further with a greater emphasis on healthcare and genetics.
With the mission of bringing safe and affordable medicine to the African continent, the Ghanian based company mPharma was established in 2013. It has expanded its operations to Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe,
and Zambia.
The organization has helped more than 400,000 patients gain access to high-quality drugs since 2013.
The start-up has successfully raised $55.5M USD in total funding.
Sendy, a Kenyan company is an on-demand platform that links customers to drivers and cars for delivery of goods.
Sendy provides services for large corporations such as Safaricom, Maersk, Unilever, Jumia, DHL, etc.
With over 27 million USD generated in funding, Sendy is expected to have a promising 2021.
8. Eversend
With its multi-currency e-wallet, Uganda’s fintech Eversend has been growing rapidly for a few years.
Eversend, is a digital-only finance platform offering, among other services and cross-border money transfers.
With over 40,000 registered users and a monthly growth rate of 30%, the company closed an oversubscribed Seedrs crowdfunding campaign that has secured an investment of EUR 897,000 (US$ 1,015 million).
9. Amitruck
In 2019, Kenya’s Amitruck unveiled its P2P logistics marketplace for trucking, seeking to disrupt the country’s daunting and unreliable road transport network by directly linking carriers with cargo owners.
The company, initially self-funded, obtained funding and company building support from GreenTec Capital Partners in April 2020 and has also participated in a number of accelerators, most recently the Africa Transformative Mobility Accelerator.
In the first year of the startup, its mobile app has been downloaded more than 10,000 times, and sales have increased by 300 percent over 12 months. These numbers are quite impressive and we believe these numbers will skyrocket in 2021.
The company currently operates only in Kenya, but it plans to expand across East Africa and beyond.
10. Ordera
2021 will definitely be a defining year for food delivery companies globally.
With its launch in 2019, Egypt’s food-delivery startup Ordera, a platform that allows users to order, pay and pick up orders in advance, offering options for contactless drive-through and on-the-go pick-u
In partnership with Misk Innovation, Ordera participated in the Saudi Arabia-based accelerator program organized by 500 Startups, and its lead investor is from the kingdom.
Ordera announced a six-figure seed financing round by mid-2020 to help in the expansion of the company in various cities.
Let us know which startup you think should be included in this list.
